Alvaro Morata returned to the Bernabeu where he began his
career before being shipped to Turin barely a year ago and scored the goal that
knocked out his former employers out of the Champions League.
The 22-year-old Real Madrid Castilla product scored in the
first leg for Juventus in their 2-1 win but his goal in the return leg at the
Bernabeu was more decisive as it earned the Old Lady a 1-1 draw and 3-2 aggregate
win which sent them to their first Champions League final in 12 years.
Juventus who have already wrapped up the Italian Scudetto
title will face La Liga Champions-elect Barcelona in the June 6 final in
Berlin.
While the final itself is something worth looking forward
to, there will be one awkward get-together that has got the football world chomping
at the bit with impatience.
During his time in England, Luis Suarez was a darling of
British tabloid newspapers for one reason; he made the wrong headlines.
From raising the middle finger at Fulham fans to biting
Branislav Ivanovic, controversy followed Suarez like a moth at the sight of
light.
However, for the sake of Barcelona’s Champions League final
against Juventus, two incidences will be on replay. Suarez will come up against
two Juventus players who have played a part in his chequered career; Patrice
Evra and Giorgio Chiellini.
In October 2011, Suarez, then playing for Liverpool, was
charged for racially abusing Patrice Evra, then of Manchester United, in a fiery
1-1 Premier League draw at Anfield. He was banned for eight games and charged £40,000
in the aftermath of the incident which he vehemently denied. Suarez would then
snub Evra’s offer of a pre-match handshake when the duo clashed again at Old
Trafford, just a week after his ban had ended.
Then in one of the most shocking moments in FIFA World Cup
history, the Uruguayan sunk his teeth in the arm of Italian defender Chiellini
when their national teams clashed in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. It was the
third time Suarez was taking a bite out of an opponent having done so against
PSV’s Otman Bakkal while playing for Ajax in the Eredivisie and also on Chelsea’s
Branislav Ivanovic while at Liverpool.
The Chiellini bite earned Suarez a four-month ban from all
football related activities and a nine-match ban. In total, the Evra and
Chiellini incidences have seen Suarez banned for a cumulative 17 games, four
months and £40,000 fine.
The Uruguayan moved to Barcelona last summer and has been hitting
the Spanish headlines for all the right reasons as part of a devastating MSN
(Messi, Suarez, Neymar) attack for Barcelona.
Nothing controversial, yet.
The Champions League final in Berlin on June 6 will be a spectacle
worth watching. However, the awkward set up of Suarez being in opposite ends
with Evra and Chiellini will be the icing on the cake.
And That's thesteifmastertake!!
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